


fleeting calm by kalypso

by kalypsobean



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-15
Updated: 2009-08-15
Packaged: 2018-01-10 22:28:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1165314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalypsobean/pseuds/kalypsobean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An afternoon, a picnic, a secret cave...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. fleeting calm

**Author's Note:**

> Written for J_Dav for Ardor in August 2009

Water falls as it always does here; it is cool to touch, it feels smooth and yet I have reached right through it, broken its perfection. It shimmers blue and white and lets just enough sunlight through for me to see you. You are just as perfect as the water; your skin is smooth and your eyes are wide and clear, your hair is long and soft and your lips taste of fruits and wine. We are alone here, shielded from view by the waterfall which we hide behind, where we can be ourselves without anyone to reprove us.

I long to touch you but I fear to disturb you; you look so peaceful, lying on your side with your head on your arm and your eyes half-closed. It appears that this idea of taking our lunch with us and wandering where we will has suited you, for you are relaxed and I have not seen you this way since you arrived. There are no trees here, but you look at home, here, with me, and I love you even more for letting me take you away from everything and keep you all to myself.

You're watching me too; you're smiling and I wonder what you are thinking. Do you wonder, whether, when the war is over and we face the prospect of sailing away from much that we hold dear, we'll do it at each other's side, strong in the knowledge that the one we hold most dear will still be there on the other shore? Do you wonder what it will be like to be bound, to read each other's thoughts like they are our own, to be halves of something whole that we never knew before? Are your thoughts as hopeful as mine, do you dream of us and the future, do you make wishes for us?

Whatever pulls the water towards the ground, whatever force pulls the river along its course to where it reaches Círdan's ships and aids them West, it draws me to you. I never want this afternoon to end, to be further away from you than this short distance, so easily crossed. I want to share my forever with you, to always see the sun on your hair before it reaches my skin, to always hear your laughter as you chase birds through the trees as you did in your youth.

Every time we touch, my heart sings as if it is the old magic that brings us together, that which lives on in the stories of the First Age. I wonder whether they'll tell stories of you, or us, in thousands of years, if we are the kind that live on in myth.

I curve my hand and let the water well in my palm. You are close by, but your eyes have closed; you are no longer watching me. I draw my hand from the waterfall and I flick the water at you; you hate it, I know, because you were brought up under the trees and you did not know rain when you were young. But you only laugh, and tackle me to the ground. The rock is worn from many encounters before ours, so it is easy for me to roll you over and pin you down. You look up at me, your blue eyes finally open, and I kiss you.

Whatever the future holds, now is too precious to waste in dreams.


	2. a moment in time

Even here in my father's gardens you look as if you belong; you are comfortable, at home, natural. You do not stand out, as if you have always been here; I wonder if I would be the same if I were allowed to visit your father's caves.

We have such a short time left together that I loathe to spend it like this; watching you and thinking of such things, but I can think of nothing that would give you so much pleasure as to be here in the closest to a forest we have within the city walls, and so I leave you be. There will be time enough tonight to touch you, let you memorise me as I will be learning you; there will always be time for lovers to take their last comforts before war, and I hope that we will become that when the sun sets and we slip from the Hall of Fire with song following us into the corridors. I want to give you a good memory to take with you, one that is not of strategy and talking and preparing...

You look up at me and smile and I find it hard to breathe; your eyes sparkle and you reach for me. It appears that you have your own plans and that I am to abandon thought for the rest of the day; perhaps it is best that we use what time we have.

I hope I will see you again, my Greenwood love, and with the same clear soul that you have now. I would do much to keep the shadow from you; I give you myself in the hope that you do not waver when you are far from me.

"This is not the last time," you whisper, as if you have read my thoughts. "Smile for me, Elladan," you say, and I cannot deny you, though my heart trembles and I find it is suddenly difficult not to cry.

Your body is warm against mine, and I know I do not touch your skin with the same certainty as that with which you touch me. I hesitate, and allow you to take control. This is what I can give you.

I deny you nothing, for I love you, and that is reason to let down my final wall.

Your soul rejoices when it touches mine, and I wish to never let you go.


End file.
